Chirped-pulse amplification in Ti:sapphire beyond 1 μm

Author

Stuart, B.C. ; Herman, S. ; Perry, M.D.

Author_Institution

Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab., CA, USA

Volume

31

Issue

3

fYear

1995

fDate

3/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

528

Lastpage

538

Abstract

Chirped-pulse amplification in Ti:sapphire in the low-gain region above μm is described. Direct measurement of the stimulated emission cross section shows that the value is nearly 50% lower in this region than previously reported based on extrapolation from fluorescence data at shorter wavelengths. We have developed a TEM₀₀ Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier exhibiting a net gain of 10⁹ (from 10 pJ to 9 mJ) at 1053 nm with extremely stable energy output (±3%). Further amplification in a ring amplifier produces in excess of 60 mJ at a 10 Hz repetition rate. The performance of these amplifiers is compared with a theoretical model which includes whole-beam self-focusing, mode-size variation due to a radial gain profile, and spectra-temporal saturation

Keywords

high-speed optical techniques; laser modes; laser stability; optical saturation; optical self-focusing; sapphire; solid lasers; stimulated emission; titanium; 1 mum; 10 pJ to 9 mJ; 1053 nm; 60 mJ; TEM₀₀ Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier; Ti:sapphire; chirped-pulse amplification; extremely stable energy output; fluorescence data; low-gain region; mode-size variation; net gain; radial gain profile; repetition rate; ring amplifier; spectra-temporal saturation; stimulated emission cross section; whole-beam self-focusing; Chirp; Extrapolation; Laser mode locking; Optical pulses; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse compression methods; Solid lasers; Stability; Stimulated emission; Wavelength measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.364410

Filename

364410